Synodicon in Gallia reformata, or, The acts, decisions, decrees, and canons of those famous national councils of the reformed churches in France being I. a most faithful and impartial history of the rise, growth, perfection and decay of the reformation in that kingdom, with its fatal catastrophe upon the revocation of the Edict of Nants in the year 1685 : II. the confession of faith and discipline of those churches : III. a collection of speeches, letters, sacred politicks, cases of conscience, and controversies in divinity, determined and resolved by those grave assemblies : IV. many excellent expedients for preventing and healing schisms in the churches and for re-uniting the dismembred body of divided Protestants : V. the laws, government, and maintenance of their colleges, universities and ministers, together with their exercise of discipline upon delinquent ministers and church-members : VI. a record of very many illustrious events of divine providence relating to those churches : the whole collected and composed out of original manuscript acts of those renowned synods : a work never be extant in any language.

CHAP. I. Of Ministers.

• CANON I. THAT such Persons may be chosen into the Ministery as are meet for so sacred an Employment,* 1.1 let the standing Canon of the Apostle be observed, That inquiry be made into their Doctrine, whether they be apt to teach; and also into their Conversation, with all possible Diligence.
• CANON II. Novices lately received into the Church, especially Priests and Monks, shall not be admitted unto the Sacred Ministry, without a long and dili∣gent

• inquiry, and experience had both of their Life and Doctrine, appro∣ved, at least, by the space of two Years since their Conversion, and con∣firmed by good Testimonials from the places of their abode; nor shall they be ordained, no more than unknown Persons, without the Advice of Pro∣vincial and National Synods.
• CANON III. If any Bishop or Curate should desire to be employed in the Ministry of the Gospel, he cannot be admitted till he be first a true Member of the Church, and renounce all his Benefices, and all other Dependencies on the See of Rome, and make acknowledgment of all his Offences formerly com∣mitted by him, according as he shall be advised by the Consistory, and af∣ter long proof and experience had of his Repentance and godly▪ Conver∣sation.
• CAN. IV. A Minister of the Gospel (unless in times of Difficulty, and Cases of very great necessity, in which he may be chosen by three Pastors, together with the Consistory of the Place) shall not be admitted into this Holy Of∣fice, but by the Provincial Synod, or by the Colloquy, provided that it be at least composed of seven Pastors; which number being found in a Col∣loquy, some of the Neighbour Ministers shall be called in to concur with it, and the Minister elect shall be presented with good and valid Testimo∣nials, not only from the Universities, and particular Churches, but also from the Colloquy of that Church, in which he had been most conver∣sant.
• CAN. V. The Minister presented shall be examined in this manner, First, by Pro∣positions from the Word of God, upon such Texts as shall be given him; the one necessarily in French, the other in the Latin Tongue, if the Collo∣quy or Synod shall judge it expedient. One whole day shall be granted him to prepare himself for each of these Exercises. If by them he give satisfaction unto the Assembly, there shall be tendered him a Chapter of the New Testament, by which his skill in the Greek Language shall be known; and as to the Hebrew, they shall be careful to see that at the least he can serve himself of good Books for the understanding of the Scripture in that Original. Unto these there shall be added an Essay of his skill in the most needful parts of Philosophy; let the whole Examen be managed with singular Charity, and without Affectation of any thorny or unprofi∣table Questions. Finally, he shall compose a brief Confession of his Faith in Latin, on which he shall be opposed by way of Disputation. And if, after this Examination, he be found capable, then the Assembly remonstra∣ting to him the Duty of that Office whereunto he is called, shall further declare that Power which is given him in the Name of Jesus Christ,* 1.2 to minister both in the Word and Sacraments; and he shall be fully and solemn∣ly ordained in that Church unto which he is sent; and the said Church shall be informed of his Election by the Act or Letters of that Synod or Colloquy, which shall be delivered and read unto them by a Pastor or Elder.
• CAN. VI. He whose Election shall be declared unto the Church, shall Preach pub∣licity the Word of God on three several Sabbaths (but without power of administring the Holy Sacraments, or of solemnizing Marriages) in the audience of the whole Congregation, that so they may know his manner of Teaching, and the said Auditory shall be expresly charged. That if any one of them do know any impediment, for which his Ordination, who shall be then mentioned by his Name, may not be compleated, or why he may not

• be accepted, that they do then come and give notice of it unto the Con∣sistory, which shall patiently hear the Reasons of both Parties, that so they may proceed to Judgment. The Peoples silence shall be taken for a full consent. But in case contention should arise, and the afore-named Elect be pleasing to the Consistory, but not unto the People, or to the major part of them, his reception shall be deferred, and the whole shall be remitted unto the Colloquy or Provincial Synod, which shall take cognizance both of the justification of the before-named elect Minister, and of his recep∣tion. And although the said Elect should be then and there justified, yet shall he not be given as Pastor unto that People against their will, nor to the discontentment of the greatest part of them; nor shall the Pastor be im∣posed against his will upon that Church; and the difference shall be termi∣nated by order as above, at the Costs and Charges of the Church that shall have demanded him.
• CAN. VII. Who so consenteth to be chosen unto the Sacred Ministry, ought to ac∣cept of the Office, with which he shall be invested; and in case of his re∣fusal, he shall be solicited thereunto by fitting Exhortations, but he shall in no wise be constrained.
• CAN. VIII. The Election of Ministers shall be confirmed by Prayers and Imposition of Hands; always avoiding all Superstition, and according to this ensuing form:

  The Form of Ordination usually observed in the Churches of France at the Re∣ception of their Ministers.

  All things before-mentioned having been observed, two Pastors deputed by the Synod or Colloquy to lay their Hands upon the Minister elect, be∣ing come into that Church, one of them, who preacheth the Sermon, shall discourse briefly of the Institution and Excellency of the Ministry, alledging Testimonies pertinent to this occasion from holy Writ; such as Ephes. 4.11, 12. Luke 10.16. John 20.21, 22. 1 Cor. 4.1, 2. 2 Cor. 5.18, 19, 20. 1 Tim. 3.8. or others of the like nature, admonishing every one to see to it, that both Minister and People do perform their respective Duties. The Minister to acquit himself of his Charge the more carefully, because he knoweth it to be precious and excellent in the sight of God; and the People with all humility and reverence to receive the Word of God, which shall be declared by him, who is now sent unto them. Then shall be read in the hearing of the whole Congregation what is written in 1 Tim. 3. and 1 Tit. where the Apostle teacheth what kind of Man a Minister should be. And that it may please God to vouchsafe Grace unto this elect person to acquit himself worthily and faithfully of his holy Calling, a short Prayer shall be conceived to this purpose, in which the said Pastor shall insert these or the like words: O Lord God, we beseech thee to endow with the Gifts and Graces of thy holy Spirit this thy Servant lawfully chosen according to that Order established in thy Church, and abundantly to enrich him with all Abilities needful for his ac∣ceptable performance of the Duties of his Office, to the Glory of thy holy Name, the Edification of thy Church, and his own Salvation, whom we now dedicate and con∣secrate unto thee by this our Ministry. And then the Minister that prayeth, standing upright below the Pulpit, shall lay his Hands upon his Head, for whom Prayer is now made, he being humbly on his knees. And the new Pastor arising, the two Deputies sent from the Colloquy or Synod shall give him before the People the right hand of fellowship. And this Form

• ...

  and the above-mentioned Canon shall be unanimously observed in all the Reformed Churches of this Kingdom.

• CAN. IX. Our Confession of Faith and Church-Discipline shall be subscribed by such as are chosen in the Ministry, both into the Churches in which they shall be ordained, and in those unto which they shall be sent.
• CAN. X. No Ministers shall be ordained without appointing them unto a particu∣lar Flock; and they shall be the peculiar Pastors of those Churches unto which they be assigned. And no Church shall pretend right unto any Minister, by vertue of a particular promise made by him, without the authority of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod.
• CAN. XI. Such as shall be chosen unto the Ministry of the Gospel must know, that they be in that Office for term of life, unless they be lawfully discharged upon good and certain considerations, and that by the Provincial Synod.
• CAN. XII. The principal Duty of Ministers is to Preach the Gospel, and to declare the Will of God unto their People, and they shall be exhorted to forbear all strange ways of teaching, which have no tendency to edification; and they shall conform themselves to the simplicity and common stile of God's Spi∣rit, taking heed that there be nothing in their Sermons prejudicial to the Authority of holy Scripture; and they shall never Preach without having for foundation of their discourse a Text of holy Scripture, which they shall ordinarily follow, and they shall handle and expound as much of that Text as they can, forbearing all needless Enlargements, all tedious and unseason∣able Digressions, all superfluous heapings up of Scripture-Quotations, and vain recitals of various and different Expositions. They shall very rarely alledge the Writings of the Fathers, nor at any time prophane Histories and Authors; that so they may reserve unto the Scripture intirely its own Au∣thority. Moreover, they shall not handle any Doctrine in a scholastick way of Disputation, nor with a mixture of Languages. In one word, they shall avoid whatsoever may serve for ostentation, or in any wise occasion doubts or scruples. And that this Canon may be more carefully observed and practised, Consistories, Colloquies, and Synods shall put to their help∣ing hand.
• CAN. XIII. Churches are admonished to use more frequently the Ordinance of Cate∣chising, and Ministers are to treat and expound it by short, plain, and fa∣miliar Questions and Answers, accommodating themselves unto the capaci∣ty of the meanest People, without expatiating themselves into common pla∣ces. Yea, all Ministers shall endeavour to catechize every one in their Flocks once or twice a Year, and shall exhort them to conform themselves thereunto very carefully.
• CAN. XIV. Ministers and their Families shall actually reside on their Churches, on pain of being deposed from their Sacred Ministerial Office.
• CAN. XV. Those Persons to whom God hath given Talents and Abilities for Wri∣ting, are advised to use them in a modest manner, suitable to the Majesty of God's Word; and therefore consequently they shall not write after a ridi∣culous

• or injurious rate, and in their ordinary Sermons they shall express this self-same modesty and gravity. And they who are endowed with gifts for writing, shall he chosen by the Provinces; and if it happen that any Books be published against the true Religion, they shall be sent unto them, that they may be answered. And there shall be a Colloquy in each Pro∣vince appointed unto this peculiar business carefully to peruse all Manu∣scripts before they be Printed, and what is published, and to disperse the Copies.
• CAN. XVI. No Minister shall claim or exercise any Primacy or Jurisdiction over another.
• CAN. XVII. Ministers shall preside by turns in their Consistories, that so none may claim a Superiority over his Fellow, and none of them shall give any Te∣stimony in matters of importance, without having first Communicated un∣to his Brethren and Collegues in the Ministry.
• CAN. XVIII. That Custom used in some places of deputing certain Ministers from the Provincial Synods to visit the Churches, shall be for time to come to∣tally suppressed and abolished. That order which hath been used until now being sufficient enough for taking cognisance of Scandals. And this manner of erecting new Offices and Employments is condemned because of its dangerous consequence, as also all names of superiority are rejected, such as Elders of Synods, Super-intendents, and the like. And all Advertise∣ments for assembling Colloquies, or Synods, or concerning any businesses which depend upon them, shall be directed unto the Church, and not to any particular Minister in it. And if accidentally they have been so su∣perscribed, and for some certain Considerations addressed unto any one of the Ministers or Elders, they who have received them shall present them unto the Consistory, that so advice and deliberation may be taken of them.
• CAN. XIX. No Minister, together with the holy Ministry, shall be a Practitioner in Law or Physick; yet out of Charity he may give Counsel and assistance to the poor of his Flock, and of his Neighbourhood: provided always that he be not thereby diverted from his Calling, nor derive any gain from his practice, unless in times of trouble and persecution, and when he cannot exercise his Calling in his Church, and cannot be maintained by it. And those who shall thus employ themselves in Law or Physick, or in any other Worldly distracting business, shall be exhorted wholly to forbear it, and to∣tally to devote themselves unto the duties of their Calling as Ministers, and to the study of the Scriptures. And all Colloquies and Synods are admo∣nished to proceed according to the Canons of our Discipline against the re∣fractory, and such as be willfully disobedient, as also against those who spend so much of their time in teaching youth, that it is an hinderance to them in the principal duties of their Ministerial Office. And all Consisto∣ries, Colloquies, and Provincial Synods, shall have a most especial care and regard that this Canon be punctually observed, and to suspend such as do transgress it from their exercise of the Ministry.
• CAN. XX. Ministers shall exhort their People to be modest in their Apparel, they themselves also giving in this particular a good example unto the World, by their own, their Wives, and their Children's forbearing all bravery in their Habits.
• ...

• ... CAN. XXI. Princes, and great Lords following the Court, that would have a Church erected in their Houses, shall be desired to chuse their Ministers out of those Churches which be duly reformed, and can spare them a Pastor, and of whose lawful Call unto the sacred Ministry they may be well assured, and this with the good will and consent of the Colloquies or Synods. These shall in the first place subscribe the Confession of Faith of the Churches in this Kingdom, and our Ecclesiastical Discipline. And that the Preaching of the Gospel may be the more successful, they shall be every one of them desired to constitute in their Families a Consistory, composed of the Mi∣nister, and of the best approved persons for Godliness in their said Family, who shall be chosen Elders and Deacons: by which Consistory all Vices and Scandals in that Family shall be suppressed, and the common Discipline of our Churches shall be maintained. Moreover if it be possible for them, they shall personally appear at Provincial Synods. To which purpose Pow∣ers shall be given unto the Church, that convocates the Synod of that Pro∣vince, to call them to it. And the said Ministers by name, or some one or other of them, according as they shall be deputed by the rest, shall make their personal Appearance at the National Synods, in company with their Elders, who may inform the Synod of their Lives and Conversations; And if several of them meet together, none shall claim any preheminency or ju∣risdiction over his Brethren, according to that Canon of our Discipline made on this behalf. And when as the said Princes and Lords shall sojourn in their Houses, or other places in which a Church is already constituted, that all divisions may be avoided, they shall be desired to conjoin the Church of their Families, together with the Church of that place, to make but one Church, as shall be advised in an amicable Conference with the Ministers of both Churches, that so what may be most expedient may be followed.
• CAN. XXII. It shall not be lawful for the Pastor to desert his Flock without leave first had and obtained from the Colloquy, and Provincial Synod of that Church to which he was first given.
• CAN. XXIII. Deserters of the Sacred Ministry shall be finally Excommunicated by the Provincial Synod, unless they do repent, and return again unto their Charge which God had committed to them.
• CAN. XXIV. Ministers shall not be Vagrants, nor have liberty to intrude themselves of their own Authority into any place which best pleaseth them.
• CAN. XXV. The Minister of one Church shall not preach in another without the consent of its Minister, unless he were absent: in which case the Consistory shall authorize him; and if through persecution, or any troubles, the Flock should be dissipated, the strange Minister shall endeavour to assemble the Elders and Deacons: which if it cannot be done, yet nevertheless he may warrantably preach, that so the dispersed Flock may be reunited.
• CAN. XXVI. That Minister who intrudeth himself into a Church, although he get the People's Approbation, yet shall he not be approved of by the Neigh∣bour Ministers, or any others; but the cognisance of his Case shall be de∣volved upon the Colloquy, or Provincial Synod.
• ...

• ... CAN. XXVII. Ministers shall not be sent unto other Churches without authentick Let∣ters, or some other sufficient Testimonials from those places from whence they last came, which shall be put into the Consistories hands of that Church whereunto they be sent, and there carefully to be preserved.
• CAN. XXVIII. No Minister, who reports himself forsaken of his Church of persecuted, shall thereupon be received by another Church, until he have first produ∣ced valid Certificates of his holy and unblameable Conversation unto the Colloquy or Synod, and the whole Affair shall be remitted to the prudence and discretion of the Colloquy or Provincial Synod.
• CAN. XXIX. When as a Minister, who hath orderly obtained his Licence of departure from that Church in which he last served, shall be destitute of employment, the Colloquy or Provincial Synod are of duty bound to provide him of ano∣ther Church within one Month. And if within that term the Colloquy or Synod have not provided for him, he shall be then at liberty to get himself a Church out of that Province in any place where God shall open a door unto him according to the Canons of our Discipline.
• CAN. XXX. Authority is granted unto Provincial Synods for divers considerations to remove Ministers from their Churches, their Churches having been first heard, and their Reasons well and sufficiently weighed. But in case of discord, the whole shall be determined by a National Synod; and till the sit∣ting of which nothing shall be innovated.
• CAN. XXXI. When as a Minister is persecuted, or for some other reason cannot exer∣cise his Ministry in that Church unto which he was appointed, he may by the said Church be sent elsewhere, or they may exchange him with another for a certain time, by the good will and consent of both the Churches. But and if the Minister shall not submit unto the judgment of those two Churches, he shall give the Reasons of his refusal unto the Consistory, and in it their equity shall be debated and determined: and in case they be not esteemed valid, and the Minister shall notwithstanding persist in his reso∣lution of not accepting the said Employment, the difference shall be referred unto the next Provincial Synod, or else unto the Colloquy, if both those Churches do belong unto the same Colloquy.
• CAN. XXXII. Ministers may with their own consent be lent by the Consistory, accord∣ing as the Edification of the Church shall require: but the loan shall not be done without the advice of two or three Ministers, or of the same Colloquy, if it be for any longer term than six Months.
• CAN. XXXIII. Ministers, that have been lent, when as the time of their loan is expired, shall be restored again unto their Churches, from which they had de∣parted.
• CAN. XXXIV. If a Church do not redemand its Pastor within one Year after the time for which he was lent is expired, he shall then appertain unto that Church unto

• which he was lent, provided always, that the said Pastor do yield his con∣sent unto it; but and if he do not give his consent, he shall dispose of him∣self according to the advice of the Colloquy or Synod of that Church to which he had been lent. And this Canon shall be of force with reference to those Ministers, who because of persecution have betook themselves unto the service of other Churches, and the persecution ceasing they be not rede∣manded by their former Churches within one Year, which shall begin from that time in which those Ministers gave notice of it unto those aforesaid Churches.
• CAN. XXXV. A Minister destitute of a Church and unimployed in his Province, and lent by the Colloquy to a Church out of the bounds of the Province till the next Session of his Provincial Synod, if he be not employed by that Synod within their Province, he shall remain appropriate unto that Church to which he was lent, provided that he and the Church do mutually consent thereunto.
• CAN. XXXVI. That Churches may perform their Duties to their Pastors, according to those Obligations on them by the Word of God, and that Pastors may have no just ground of offence given them, nor to abandon their said Flocks, they shall be admonished to minister unto their Pastors all things necessary for their comfortable subsistence.
• CAN. XXXVII. And to prevent their ingratitude, who by experience are known to have dealt unworthily with their painful Ministers, this order shall be observed; one quarter of the yearly Pension which was promised them shall be paid in unto them by way of advance beforehand.
• CAN. XXXVIII. And for the future, lest through any ill management of this matter, the Churches should happen to be dissipated, those who are chosen Moderators in Colloquies, shall enquire of the Elders in every Church about the Main∣tenance afforded by them unto their Ministers, and of their Care in supply∣ing their Wants, according to the Canon before ordained; that so by the Authority of Colloquies provision may be made for them.
• CAN. XXXIX. When as necessary Maintenance shall have been detained from a Pastor, and three Months be laps'd since his Complaints and Remonstrances, it shall be then lawful for the said Pastor to joyn himself unto any other Church by consent of his Colloquy or Provincial Synod: And the Colloquy or Synod may shorten the term of three Months if there be urgent neces∣sity for it; yea, if that the necessity be pressing, and three Months are ex∣pired, and the Pastor is not supplied, though he had entered in his Peti∣tion to be discharged, it shall suffice if he call into his Consistory two neigh∣bour Ministers, and he shall not be bound to wait for the sitting of the Colloquy or Synod to obtain their advice and consent, unless that one of the said Assemblies were convocated and to meet in that very self-same Month in which he was to have departed.
• CAN. XL. In that tryal and judgment which shall be passed upon a Peoples ingra∣titude at the complaint of a Minister, all circumstances shall be prudently considered, and special regard shall be had unto the poverty of the Church, and of the Plaintiff's estate, that so they may use those means which will

• be most likely to promote the Glory of God, the Edification of his Church, and the Honour of the Ministry.
• CAN. XLI. A Church being found ungrateful shall not be provided of a Pastor till such time as they have given intire satisfaction according to their ability unto him of whom they be deprived. And this Pastor shall in the mean while remember always to keep himself disingaged from the Church of any other Province but his own, unless by a Decree of the said Province it may have been otherwise determined.

  N.B. The last Clause of this Canon is not in four Copies of different Editions, as that of the Year 1653. that of Geneva, 1666. that of Quevilly, 1678. and an English Translation of the Discipline, printed for Bourn in the Year 1642. But yet I find it in the Paris Edition by Vandôme in the Year 1663. and in ano∣ther Impression of it at Quevilly, I think in the same Year 1663 for I have not the Original now by me, (which I returned twenty Years ago to my Friend) but the Translation I made of it.

• CAN. XLII. Ministers, though they have Estates and Lands of their own, may yet nevertheless take Wages from their Flocks, yea and it is expedient that they should so do, in regard of its consequence, lest other Ministers and Churches be prejudiced by this their example. Yet shall they be advised so to manage this liberty as the Churches necessity, and their quality shall re∣quire it.
• CAN. XLIII. No Pastor, under the title of a Pastor, shall be permitted to possess an In∣heritance: but in case his Stipend or any part thereof were assigned upon some particular Tenement, Rent, or Revenue, the whole shall be admini∣stred by the Deacons, or other persons commissionated and ordained there∣unto by the Churches; through whose hands the Minister shall receive his Pension, that so all suspicion of covetousness may be removed, and lest by such worldly cares he should be diverted from the weightier Duties of his Calling.
• CAN. XLIV. That Church, in whose Service a Minister dieth, shall take care of his Wi∣dow and Orphans, and if the Church cannot do it through want of ability, the Province shall maintain them.
• CAN. XLV. Ministers shall be subject unto Censures.
• CAN. XLVI. The Duty of Ministers is to govern both themselves and their Flocks, and all their Members small and great, of whatsoever quality and degree, according to the Word of God and the Church-Discipline. But it belong∣eth properly unto the Magistrate to oversee all Orders and Degrees of Men, yea and Ministers also, and to take heed that they walk uprightly in their calling: wherefore if they offend, the Magistrate shall admonish them of their Duty (and that power is ascribed to him by our Church-Discipline) in Consistories, Colloquies, and Synods, unless their Offences be punish∣able by Law, the knowledge of which appertaineth unto the Civil Ma∣gistrate.
• ...

• ... CAN. XLVII. If Ministers should teach evil Doctrine, and after sufficient admonition given them do not desist, they shall be deposed. Item, Such as reject those holy Counsels made them out of God's Word, by their Consistories. Item, Such also as are of Scandalous Lives, and those who shall be con∣victed of Heresy, Schism, Rebellion against the Discipline of the Church, and open Blasphemies, deserving punishment by the Civil Magistrate, Si∣mony, all Bribery by gifts, briguings, and underhand dealings to get into another Mans place, desertion of their Flocks without lawful leave, and just occasion, falshood, perjury, whoredom, theft, drunkenness, battery, meriting punishment by the Laws, Usuries, scandalous Plays, and others forbidden by the Laws, Dances and such like dissolutions, Crimes branded with Infamy, and which in any other Person would merit Exclusion from the Church, and all persons uncapable of discharging the duties of their Calling.
• CAN. XLVIII. These shall not be deposed, who by reason of Sickness, old Age, or any other such infirmities, are rendred uncapable of discharging the Duties of their Ministry, in which case their honour shall be conserved them, and they shall be recommended unto their Churches for maintenance, and other Ministers shall be provided to perform the duties of their Calling.
• CAN. XLIX. Scandalous Crimes punishable by the Civil Magistrate, such as Murder, High-Treason, and other Vices redounding to the great dishonour and scandal of the Church, do deserve that the Minister, guilty of them, should be deposed, although he had committed them not only before his Ordina∣tion, but also before his Conversion. And this shall be the rather done, lest the Continuance of such a Wretch in the Ministry should draw greater scandal upon, than edifying unto the Church. Of which all Synods shall take Cognisance.
• CAN. L. In Case a Minister be convicted of enormous and notorious Crimes, he shall be deposed out of hand by the Consistory, they inviting unto that action their Colloquy, or through default thereof two or three disinter∣essed Ministers. And if the Delinquent Minister should complain of the Ac∣cusation and Calumny, the business shall be reported unto the Provincial Synod. If he hath Preached Heretical Doctrine (contrary to the Scriptures) he shall be suspended by the Consistory, Colloquy, or two or three Mini∣sters, invited thereunto as before, till the final decision of his Case by the Provincial Synod; and all Sentences of Suspension, for what cause or ac∣count soever, shall stand good, and be of force, notwithstanding his Ap∣peal, until the definitive Judgment of the next Synod.

  N.B. That Parenthesis in this Canon is not to be found in the four last Editions of the Discipline, but yet it is in two others that I have both Prin∣ted since the last National Synod.

• CAN. LI. Unless necessity so require it, the Causes of a Ministers Deposal shall not be published unto the People; of which those who were his Judges, and decreed his Deposal, shall take cognisance.
• CAN. LII. The National Synods shall be informed by the Provinces of all Deposed Ministers, that they may not be by them admitted into the Ministry any more.
• ...

• ... CAN. LIII. Ministers. Deposed for Crimes deserving Capital punishment, or bearing mark of Infamy, shall never be restored unto their Office, whatever satis∣factions may be given by them. But as for slighter faults, upon Confession of them, they may be restored by the Provincial Synod, but with this con∣dition, to serve in another Province, and not in their own.
• CAN. LIV. Vagrants, that is to say, such as having no Call, do thrust themselves in∣to the Ministry, shall be restrained. And whatever Ordinance shall be Decreed and Executed about the Interdiction of any Persons from the Mi∣nistry, shall be of equal vertue, with the Acts of the National Synod, and as if it had been done by it.
• CAN. LV. They who have been once denounced Vagrants, Apostates, Hereticks, and Schismaticks, shall be denounced such in all the Churches, that so they may be aware of them. And a List of these Wretches names shall be brought from the several Provincial Synods to be hung up in the National.
• CAN. LVI. Such as by the judgment of a National Synod have been once inrolled among the Vagrants, shall never be razed out of that black Catalogue but by the authority of another.
• CAN. LVII. Such as intrude into the Ministry in those places and Provinces where the pure worship of God is already established, shall be severely admonished to desist; and in case of their obstinate persisting in this their intrusion, they shall be declared Schismaticks, and their Followers also, if after the like ad∣monitions given, they do not leave them.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Chap. I. Of Ministers.
• * 1.2

  See Obs. 1. upon the Dis∣cipline in the Synod of Ton∣neins.